


Lost Souls

by Morgana



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 06:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester was lost, but Samuel didn't have to be</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Souls

_Dean Winchester is lost!_  The cry went up from the very depths of Hell, a mournful sound that made every being that heard it shudder. It reverberated like the bell sounding the end of days, and for good reason: their efforts were in vain. Heaven had tried to intervene, to save the Righteous Man, but he was lost to darkness and the world he had once walked would soon follow.  
  
From his position outside Samuel Winchester's door, Castiel bowed his head and said a brief prayer, not only for the Righteous Man but for the brother he had sought to redeem. For nearly four months, he had kept vigil with the human, had walked beside him, silent and unseen, watching and guarding as he had been commanded to do. The demon that called itself Ruby was no more, had been easily dealt with when it showed itself and made an attempt to twist Samuel's mind to its own purposes. With its disappearance, however, Samuel seemed... lost, almost as lost as his brother now was to Hell.  
  
Castiel ended his prayer by silently giving thanks that he had never felt lost like that. He had always known his place in the world; all his brothers and sisters had. Well, almost all. But the Fallen and lost were never talked about, and if Castiel sometimes wondered about them, he knew better than to ask any of his brothers and sisters. They were lost to them, although now he had to ask himself: had they been as lost as Samuel? Was that what had led to their Fall?  
  
It was the thought of Samuel faltering and following his brother down to Hell that made Castiel turn to look at the door. Like most of the doors he'd seen Samuel shut himself behind, it was a plain, nondescript brown, with a gold number on it that meant little, a way to tell one identical room from another. But this was Samuel's door, and behind it, a lost soul was suffering. And now that he'd turned eyes and ears towards it, Castiel found he could not shut out the sound of its pain so easily.  
  
One moment he was outside, and the next he was on the other side of the door, gazing around the room. His vessel's memories informed him that this was, quite plainly, a mess. Pizza boxes and takeout containers lay abandoned on the table next to a laptop that was dark and apparently hadn't seen use in days. Clothing was strewn about the room, some of it bloody, some mud-encrusted, but Castiel barely noticed them. His attention was focused on the man who lay on one of the two beds, his arms folded protectively around the tattered remains of a blood-drenched shirt.  
  
Samuel Winchester. All the angels of Heaven knew about him, but as Castiel watched him now, he doubted that any of them truly understood him. Was this the Destroyer? The Demon King? This unshaven man who stared vacantly at the wall, lacking either the strength or will to rise from his bed long enough to simply clean himself? This shell of a human who reeked of filth and alcohol and stale Chinese food? This was the being deemed powerful enough to shake Heaven itself to its foundations?!?  
  
Impossible. The man in front of him was too sunk in misery and apathy to be of use to anyone. Hopelessness and despair hung off him like a shroud, and Castiel knew that he was right. Samuel Winchester was indeed a lost soul, but not in the way that all of them had believed. He was lost to sin and vice, given over to sloth and drunkenness, yes, but it was sin of his own doing. He had abandoned himself to it the way his brother had abandoned himself to Hell, surrendering to the weight of his pain just as Dean must have surrendered to Alistair's lies and false promises.  
  
Yes, Dean Winchester was lost. But Samuel didn't have to be. Castiel took a deep breath, well aware that he was about to disobey orders for the first time in his life. He could only hope that his superiors would understand why as he walked up to the bed and made himself visible. Crouching down so he could look into the human's eyes, he said softly, "Hello, Sam."


End file.
